Stephen Curry couldn’t quite keep up his historic first-quarter pace against the Indiana Pacers on Thursday. After breathing early life into his tired, undermanned team by hitting a new personal best of his first seven three-pointers, though, the Golden State Warriors’ “total team effort” was more than enough to lead them to a blowout victory.
The Dubs beat the Pacers 131-109 at Gainbridge Fieldhouse, putting together arguably their most encouraging top-to-bottom performance of the season despite playing without an ill Klay Thompson on the second night of a back-to-back.
Curry led the way with 42 points on 15-of-22 shooting, including 11-of-16 from beyond the arc. He scored 29 of those points during a scintillating first half before Indiana adjusted defensively, selling out even harder to stop the two-time Finals MVP after intermission. By the time Curry came alive again for back-to-back triples late in the fourth quarter, his teammates had already sealed a win.
After the game, a beaming Curry acknowledged that he tried to set an early tone while briefly “flirting” with Thompson’s all-time single-game record of 14 made triples. Just as key to the Warriors’ 22-point win? Stellar contributions across the roster.
“It was nice to flirt with [Thompson’s record] for a little bit. Obviously I knew they were gonna make some adjustments in the second half, but it was nice on a back-to-back, in a game we felt like we could come in here and get a win, get off to a hot start like that, give us some energy,” Curry said. “And then it was a total team effort from there, man. You could go down the list of everybody that contributed tonight. ”
Jonathan Kuminga finished with 18 points and four assists, just further confirmation of his ongoing breakout. Andrew Wiggins continued his eye-opening recent play, tallying 11 points, four boards and five assists while battling with Tyrese Haliburton and Pascal Siakam. Brandin Podziemski stuffed the stat sheet with nine points, seven rebounds, seven assists and two steals, captaining a seldom-used, largely anonymous second unit that helped keep the go-go Pacers at bay late in the third and early fourth quarter.
Gui Santos was among that group, scoring 13 points and corralling eight rebounds in the most productive game of his young career. Lester Quinones was, too, continuing to prove his bonafides as a full-time NBA player with six points, five rebounds and five assists.
Golden State closes out a pivotal five-game road trip at 4-1, its lone loss coming to the Atlanta Hawks in overtime despite Curry dropping 60 points. Frustrating as that defeat was at the time, it’s firmly in the Dubs’ rearview mirror now. Just four more games remain before the All-Star break, beginning with the surging Warriors’ Saturday tilt at Chase Center against Kevin Durant, Devin Booker and the Phoenix Suns.
“We always say it’s nice to get on the plane going home with a win. It was such a fun vibe tonight, just competing,” Curry said. “Obviously on a back-to-back you just gotta match their energy, play with some IQ. Thankfully, shots went in so it was good.”
